Patent Approved: Apple Now Owns "Slide to Unlock"

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Patent Approved: Apple Now Owns "Slide to Unlock"
8:00 AM - October 27, 2011 - By Jane McEntegart -
Source : http://9to5mac.com/2011/10/25/slide-to-unlock-patented/

This can't be good for the competition.

Most touchscreen devices have some sort of slide-to-unlock function. Whether it's up, down or side to side, a swift, predefined gesture is the way most of us unlock our touchscreen phones and tablets. However, it looks like any phone that does do this is infringing upon a patent owned by iPhone maker Apple.

9to5 Mac reports that the United States Patent and Trademark Office yesterday morning granted Apple approval on a patent an application covering "a predefined gesture for unlocking the device." Specifically, the patent lays out a scenario where the device is unlocked if contact with the display corresponds to a predefined gesture for unlocking the device:

"The device displays one or more unlock images with respect to which the predefined gesture is to be performed in order to unlock the device. The performance of the predefined gesture with respect to the unlock image may include moving the unlock image to a predefined location and/or moving the unlock image along a predefined path."

The application for this patent was filed in 2009, two years after the first iPhone was announced, and one year after the first Android phone hit the market. Though Apple has not yet mentioned anything about pursuing other companies that are now in violation of this patent, we doubt the company will waste any time in taking competitors to court over this one.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Slide-t...id-unlock-Patent-infringement,news-12998.html


Yeah, this floored me. I'm actually now thinking about writing a letter to my congressmen and governor asking them if they're all about fair trade and competition, why the USPTO is making these idiotic decisions. Ex. Apple does own the patent to create a portable, rectangular device with a button on it. Some of these designs and features are so basic that I honestly can't believe how the USPTO can even bother to review, much less approve, the patent in the first place.

US Government has sued AT&T/T-Mobile merger because it'll be anti-competitive, but it allows a very general and common function or design to be patented by a single company, forcing competitors out of the market?

Three letters: WTF?!
 
This is stupid. I think it is dumb that is can be legal for apple to have the patent for 'slide to unlock' when, if you think about it, a lot of things probabbly use that phrase (think of something like public bathroom stalls.)

Not to mention, a lot of devices already have itt on their device...

It is just stupid.
 
Picard-Facepalm.png
 
As cool as that would be, I think we have bigger issues to deal with. Namely watching the OWS incidents turn into riots. In the mean time, we just have to hope that some judge somewhere realizes that in order to create a touchscreen phone with as few buttons as possible, there has to be some way to unlock the phone via the touchscreen that also prevents it from accidentally being unlocked. Common sense just isn't so common anymore.
 
First question to ask yourself's. Is there more to the story? Second this is just going to turn into a patent wars. Patents do expire and the date varies. I can't be much of a help since I did not became a Patent lawyer nor Trademark lawyer. If I was all of you guys, I would look up the Competition law aka antitrust law. No Wikipedia. Every law, bill , amendment, ect... can be found on the national archives website.
 
Last edited:
Some research:

Originally filed in December 2005, it may lead people to suspect that at the time, this was something new. However, there was already examples of prior art with this very same feature already built in. The #1 example is the Neonode N1m, announced in Q1 2005, using Microsoft Windows CE.NET OS.

Ironically enough, this patent was DENIED by a Dutch judge as not being inventive. There, Samsung attorneys displayed the Neonode as prior art, resulting in their successful deny petition.

The USPTO patent for Apple can be found here.

Any guess as to when Apple will sue Android makers?
 
I will give you credit for some of the info you found. Here your going to do my job since I have a lot of work atm. HERE! Read it and pm me if you need help understanding it. As far as my Guess when they will sue? I do not know. I contact one of my friend at the US patent and trademark office in D.C. to dig up the original document and any others that are related. as well the repeal. I'll look over this on Sunday and would be able to give you a clearer understanding of the problem and what may or may not happen
 
What is really bad about this patent is how vague it was written... It could mean any kind of sliding motion.
 
ddily said:
No... Any Patent that you submit to the United States Patent and Trademark Office must follow there instruction and guide lines for the application process. They wont accept a "vague" Idea, Invention, ect... It needs to be heavily detailed
Click to expand...

Read the patent... It is pretty vague.
 
ChocolateVillain said:
Read the patent... It is pretty vague.
Click to expand...

Or the patent on a rectangular device with a single "home" button. I can't recall the exact patent, but ironically enough, Apple's iPad and iPad2 do not conform to their own patent that they received, much less the Samsung Galaxy tab being in violation of that patent.

And shadows was kidding ddily.
 
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